Trapped in a world he is not designed to cope with, Dave-El (the true Kryptonian name of alleged Earth creature David Long) writes about comics, Doctor Who, politics and whatever damned thing pops into his unbalanced mind.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Doctor Who Week: Whovians Assemble - Part One

Hi there! Welcome to I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You. I'm Dave-El and yes, I do in fact believe it's not butter.Today is another post towards this week's theme, Doctor Who Week as we move closer to Saturday, September 19th and the debut of Episode One of Series 9 of Doctor Who. Behind the scenes blog stuff: I've actually been taking a bit of a break from the blog by writing these posts in advance. However, today's post is relatively live as I write about something that happened yesterday (Tuesday, September 15th). Last night, the El Family took flight from our Fortress of Ineptitude to go the movie theater (what our brethren everywhere else in the world may refer to as "the cinema") but not to see a last straggling movie release for summer 2015. Rather we paid good money to see something we've already seen, the 2 part season finale of Doctor Who Series 8, Dark Water and Death In Heaven. This is not the first time we've done this. We saw Day of the Doctor and Deep Breath in the week following seeing these programs debut on TV. Last year, we saw the 10th Doctor's Cybermen 2 parter from Series 2 in the theater and that's without the benefit of 3-D. The next day we did get a 3-D experience with a documentary about birds narrated by David Tennant.But it is hard to pass up a chance to see Doctor Who on the big screen, particularly in 3-D. Plus its always fun to see Doctor Who in the company of other Whovians. And there would be some bonus stuff for us fans to partake of. As for the episodes themselves, my opinion really hasn't changed much from when I reviewed Dark Water and Death In Heaven last year. Still, there were moments were impacted by the cinema experience. Clara's sadness and loss after the death of Danny is magnified in intensity as the image on screen is magnified in size. I think being in a movie theater, away from the comforts of home and the control over the TV makes moments of emotional pain that much harder to bear. The nightmare scenario as Clara threatens the Doctor to force him to reset time and bring Danny back to life is also more intense due to the big screen size. Certain action sequences, particularly the attack on the UNIT plane by the Cybermen, look OK on the movie screen but would've definitely benefited from a movie-like special effects budget. Big screens and 3-D effects can only put so much extra shine on the best TV special effects. Like the 10th Doctor presentation last year, the two episodes were edited together to form a cohesive whole, adding a bit to the movie feel of the experience. This showing did not commit the same faux pas as the 2014 event by leaving in the tease for the next episode. Yes, the stinger with the Doctor and Santa Claus is missing; it ends with the TARDIS disappearing and Clara walking away. Still, all in all, the family and I enjoyed seeing this epic tale on a movie screen again. But we also got a kick out of some things that were new. But I'll touch on those tomorrow.

The countdown continues....3 days to go! (Post amended: see more below graphic.)

Post amended: The Daily Telegraph (UK) is reporting that Jenna Coleman has announced her departure from Doctor Who. So far, I haven't seen this corroborated anywhere else but keep an eye out for further news, Whovians.